Lady Amber says until noon,

Pear rubbed beeswax on her bowstring before answering. "Lady Amber says until noon, then it'll be too late for them to go invading Mossflower. Personally, I think we should encourage them to come out at noon, then we could follow them back and pick them off in the evening." Another squirrel swung in through the branches. "Are you two all right for arrows?" he asked breathlessly. "Here's another quiver full. Give a call if you're running low." He swung off to the next tree with his supplies. Bane tried every possible move, but at each new turn he was frustrated by the deadly accuracy of the woodlanders. Every exit tried, be it window or door, resulted in further loss of troops. The summer morning wore on, the high sun above impervious to the dead that littered the courtyard. Tsarmina came up with the most sensible suggestion to date. "Why don't we just shut the doors and ignore them? With nothing to shoot at, they'll have to leave." Bane was glad of the solution. He would have mentioned it earlier, had Tsarmina not been in such a towering rage. Skipper was no mean climber. He stood on a low bough with Lady Amber. Together they considered the problem of the doors that were slammed shut and the bolted, wooden tables which had been placed across the open windows. "Looks like a stalemate, Amber.*' Lady Amber thwacked off an arrow at the closed door. "Cowards! They're very brave attacking defenceless wood- 277 landers and killing unarmed creatures, but they can't face real warriors when it comes to a battle." Skipper looked up at the clear blue sky. "Ah well, second day of summer and all's well, me old branchjumper. Come on. Let's withdraw and get back to Brockhall." A mischievous smile spread across the squirrel's face. "Right you are, Skip. But not before I've left them with a small token of our regard." Tsarmina sat eating woodpigeon with Bane in an inner room with no windows. There was a tap on the door. "Come in!" she called. It was Ratflank.